Paul and Barnabas came to Antioch in Pisidia and were invited to preach in the synagogue on the Sabbath.⚜️After the readings from the law and the prophets, Paul proceeded to recount salvation history, beginning with Abraham and continuing through Moses and the prophets, their desire for a king and all that came from that.⚜️ He then told them about Jesus and how he fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah.⚜️The Gentiles within the community heard about his preaching and invited him to preach for them.✨The following Sabbath, so many people showed up to listen to Paul, and the usual things happened.⚜️ The Jewish leaders became jealous of Paul and gathered enough people with them to drive Paul and Barnabas out of town.⚜️ Paul and Barnabas did as Jesus had told the seventy-two that he had sent out to prepare the people for Jesus’ message, shook the dust from their feet and moved on.⚜️ Paul continues to preach where he can to both the Jews and the Gentiles.⚜️ After a while, it seems that so many would come to believe that the leaders of the Jews and sometimes the Gentiles would get jealous and afraid of losing their power that they would begin to persecute them and Paul and Barnabas would have to move on.⚜️ I am amazed at their zeal! ⚜️God uses even their persecution to move the faith further into the known world.⚜️Do you ever wonder what would have happened if the Jewish people in Jerusalem had readily accepted the good news and were never persecuted?⚜️ It’s possible that we would not know about Jesus that this new religion would have remained just a sect of Judaism.⚜️But God uses everything to bring about good.⚜️The disciples were forced to move out of Jerusalem and scattered everywhere.⚜️Yes, Paul was given the ministry to the Gentiles, but the other disciples also disbursed, with some going further south into Africa.⚜️Peter, Paul and John travelled to Europe.⚜️The message was the same.⚜️Jesus fulfilled the promise to send a Messiah and bring salvation to all.⚜️
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